


Companion For The Road

by aliitvodeson



Category: Fables (Willingham) - All Media Types, Fables - Willingham, The Wolf Among Us
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/M, Non-Graphic Violence, alternate first meeting, mentions of past Prince Charming/Snow White
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-01
Updated: 2015-04-01
Packaged: 2018-03-20 18:51:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 951
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3661224
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aliitvodeson/pseuds/aliitvodeson
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Wanted: travelling protector for the Princess Snow White, recently divorced, bound for another world by means of magical gate. Interested should attend the Princess at all times, bring their own weapons, and be ready for the possibility of no return journey. Inquire with the Lords of the Council or Princess Snow White directly.<br/>Monsters need not apply.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Companion For The Road

“You need someone to look after you!”

It’s just a repeat of all those things she heard from the Prince, from the guards, from the voice inside her own head. Needing a guard. Something more than the sword in her belt or the knowledge in her mind. The Lords of the Council remind her that though her marriage with their Prince has been dissolved, the oaths they swore at her wedding still stand; their honour will suffer if they allow her to go away alone.

She had accepted that, even as she’d rejected every escort they offered her.

She would not take a knight away from his kingdom, not when she doubted he would be able to return. Any man who was willing enough to forsake all hope of coming back to this land was too desperate to travel with her, or spoke hushed words when the wrong servants were listening. One sell-sword presented himself to her with the oath that his weapon was the only one she need bring on the trip, and the Prince could have his lovely blade back when she left.

The planned date for the start of her journey came and went, and the castle grew ever tighter around her.

One morning, the former princess was woken by a maid’s scream, the rattle of guards and their armour, the ringing of the castle’s heavy bells. Dressing gown tied around her waist and sword in her hand, Snow ran out onto the balcony.

There, just beyond the stone wall of the castle, was the largest wolf she had ever seen. Brown fur grew over shoulders as tall as three men stacked head on feet, the wide yellow eyes that stared at her were as large as the greatest of the castles bells, the fangs that came out of the wolf’s mouth the length of the King’s great sword. The man standing on the wall were yelling commands as the commoners ran for the shelter of the great keep, but Snow had eyes only for the beast looming above her esterwhile home.

“I’m told there’s a princess looking for a travelling guard.”

His voice, for the wolf it turned out could speak, was deep as the aged king, and nearly as precious in it’s sharp speech.

“I am. I’m travelling for the another world.”

The wolf, Snow might have swore, smiled. “The one world the Emperor isn't interested in invading. I could keep you safe.”

“And why should I trust you with my safety? You have a reputation.”

“Indeed I do. But you know all about true monsters, Princess.”

The Lords of the Council protest, as she expects them to. But Snow already knows what her decision is. The wolf is waiting on the far side of the river when she leaves the castle that night, bag over her shoulder and sword at her side. He rises to his incredibly tall height as she approaches. “I did not expect you to receive permission.”

“And what makes you think I need their permission?”

He smirks.

They do not talk much as they travel that night, or through the next day, or the day after they. They stick to the large forests, avoiding the Empire’s troops and the various kingdoms they pass through. The Wolf brings his kills back to camp, and will through a portion of deer or bear at her with a grunt. Snow fights the urge to grunt back. At night, she shivers in her bed role, until he comes and wraps his large form around her body, sheltering her in his furs.

In the mornings, they are both silent.

They’re struck by a blizzard two days out from the gate. The snow begins mid-morning and carries on through the entire day, to where she can’t move through it on her own, even when the Wolf walks ahead of her and pushes the drifts down.

“Wolf-”

“I know.” The paw comes out from nowhere, sweeps her off her feet and throws her through the air. Somehow she reaches out and catches his fur as she falls onto it, landing on his back with a huff. “Hold on.”

She’s seen him run, in the days they’ve been together. She’s seen him kill two bears with a snap of his teeth, take down a whole herd of deer within a few moments. She thought she knew how he moved.

She was wrong.

He races over the snow drifts, runs with his muscles bunching under her, his fur blowing back against her face, the giant head in front of her blocking the heavy wind. If she was a younger woman, she might giggle.

They reach the gate as the moon rises over the treeline.

The wolf does not even pause when the defenses of the enemy comes into view. He merely tells her to “hang on, and keep your head down.” Blood splatters her body, but she does not flinch away, and she does not close her eyes.

When the wolf bows, it is in the fresh snowfall of a new world, his paws set on land no creature of his kind has traveled before. She slides from his back, walks around to see what lies before them, stares out with one hand on her sword.

“I suppose this is where we part ways, Princess.”

She turns around to look at him, and those keen yellow eyes seem dull now, like a man’s parting for his beloved wife on a journey he does not expect to return from. Almost without her own wish, her hand leavings her sword to tangle in the fur of his neck. “You would leave me in this new world, without protection?”

She swears he smirks.


End file.
